Author's Note: You'd be amazed at the doors that can open with a simple lunch. Thanks again for the reviews!

Chapter 4 – Lunch

As they started to head across the street, Hotch instinctively reached for Cait's elbow to stop her as a passing car approached. Cait noticed the gesture and smiled. "Thank you, I'm a big girl."

"Old habits die hard," Hotch said, instantly regretting that he might have offended her. She clearly was an intelligent woman. Not that Haley wasn't. However, knowing how well Cait Barkley understood the world he worked in clearly set her at the opposite end of the spectrum from his former wife. And Aaron Hotchner had to admit to himself one thing. That thought intrigued him.

While they continued towards the Student Union, Hotch noticed Cait was pulling her scarf up a little higher around her neck and her coat tighter across her chest. She looked at him and shrugged, "My California heritage will never let me get used to these damp days. As a doctor, I hate them. They are the immune system's worst enemy."

Reaching the building, Hotch once again reached for the door to let Cait enter first. Hotch's assumptions of her continued to change as she clearly did not balk at the "old fashion" gesture. This clearly was a woman that expected that of a man. She was "old school" which meant to Hotch Cait Barkley came from a privileged background. Yet, she didn't wear that on her sleeve. The contradiction of the woman he followed down the stairs continued to baffle him. "May I ask how a Doctor of Psychology worries about an immune system?"

Cait smiled. "My MD precedes my PhD. And while I thoroughly enjoy working in academia, my heart is still with patients – taking appointments and making hospital rounds." Together they entered the huge emporium that housed Georgetown's eating options. Cait loosened her coat and scarf and gave a quick tour.

"Which is your favorite? Hotch asked.

Cait pointed to an area just off to their left. "The soup and salad bar. You can go all out building you own salad. Unfortunately, I don't have the time for that so I grab one of their small homemade salads along with a cup of soup and a bread stick."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Hotch replied as he followed her to the area. They both grabbed a tray and made their way to the pre-made salads. Cait chose a Cobb salad, while Hotch quickly selected a Chef salad. They both added their own dressings and made their way to the hot table. Hotch was amazed at the three soup offerings, and quickly chose the cream of chicken with wild rice while Cait added a cup of chicken noodle to her tray. After they both added a bread stick, they approached the checkout lady. "My treat," Cait said. "I really appreciate you filling in for Dave. And you did a great job."

Hotch replied, "Cait, I'm as old school as you. How about we just go Dutch and avoid an argument."

Cait laughed. "OK, it's a deal."

After paying, they made their way to a quiet corner table to the side of the gigantic place. Taking their coats off and draping them over the back of their chairs, they sat and began to enjoy their lunch. For Hotch, having a warm lunch was a new experience. Being the hard task master he was against himself, he rarely ate a lunch at the BAU.

While Cait took a sip of her soup followed by a bite of her salad, Aaron asked, "So just how did you come to know our mutual friend?"

As Cait began to answer, Hotch took a large scoop of his soup and wolfed down a forkful of his salad. "Sorry, I have to do the math," as Cait paused. "The first time was a little over fifteen years ago."

"Do the math?" Hotch asked as he continued to enjoy his rare lunch.

"Dave's then wife Anne and my husband ran in the same DC social circles, which we both despised. We were the outcasts that stood on the fringe and we bonded. I was seven months pregnant with our oldest son."

"Oldest son, which means you have more than one?" Hotch asked as they both continued to enjoy their lunches.

"Yes," Cait replied. "Michael just turned twelve and Matt is fourteen. Back to Dave; we continued to bump into each other and I knew I could count on him to make the night fun. Our shared wicked sense of humor played off of each other as we stood on the sidelines and made jokes about all the DC players. I think we kept each other sane" Cait mused.

"I remember Anne. I had just joined the BAU when I met her. To this day, I can't figure out what Dave saw in her."

Cait laughed. "Aaron, for him to mentor you in to the BAU, you had to be bright. You hadn't figured that out?"

Aaron added his own laugh as he said, "Would it have to do something with sheets?"

Pointing to her nose, she continued, "Anyway, shortly after that he and Anne split, and we lost touch. After I came back here and got my PhD, I started making in-roads in the field. I took an opening for a teaching position in the Psychology Department while continuing my research. I had published a few articles in the Psychology Today magazine, so one day the editor approached me to do a review of this newly published book. It was Dave's second."

Cait paused to take a couple more bites of her lunch. "After the review was published, one said Mr. Rossi, the author made contact with me. We renewed our friendship and it's grown since. My boys call him Uncle Dave. He lives just around the corner from us and helps me out when I need a "man" job done around the house."

"You must have done extensive research," Aaron commented. Cait raised her eyebrows at the question. "I'm a profiler, Cait. I noticed the filing cabinets in your office."

She smiled as she took a forkful of salad. "Right; you'd think I'd be used to that."

"What made you leave medicine to go into psychology? You mentioned you loved it."

Cait took a second to swallow before answering. "In a word: life." It was Aaron's turn to raise his eyebrows in question. "The day Michael was born, I became a single mother." She paused. "Please save the tea and sympathy. Mark was an abusive, philandering, drunken bastard. He came home that morning from spending a night with another woman and was still drunk. We had already separated once. I told him that was the final straw, we got into an argument and he threw me down the steps, and walked over me lying in the foyer to leave the house."

Aaron's anger rose quickly at the thought of a man doing that to his pregnant wife. "If it's not too painful, may I asked what happened."

Cait took a quick sip of her soup. "I went into labor, but couldn't get up because I had injured my hip as well. Thank God the mailman was across the street and heard me calling for help. He called the paramedics. While I was having an emergency C-section, Mark had picked up another of his peccadilloes and got drunker. They decided to get out of the county before the cops came after him. He slammed his Porsche into a tree doing a 105. They both were killed. Being a single mother to two in diapers didn't work with doing hospital rotations, so I made a career move so I could raise my sons."

His admiration growing for her, Aaron commented, "Single mother and highly respected member of academia and the psychology world; I'm impressed."

"Thanks," Cait said as she blushed a bit. "You said you have a son?"

"Yes, Jack, he just turned three. His mother and I divorced about a year ago. She couldn't handle the job and the traveling it required."

Cait looked at her watch. "Its ten minutes to one already. I have office hours at one."

"I should be getting back as well." They quickly finished their lunches with small talk, picked up their trays and coats and headed towards the exit. As they reached the steps, Aaron took Cait's coat and helped he her into it. "Thank you," she simply said. They left the building and walked across the street to Hotch's vehicle.

"It was wonderful to meet you Aaron, and thank you again for coming. We really appreciated it."

"It was my pleasure Cait, and I enjoyed meeting you as well." They shook hands and Aaron opened the door. As Cait started to walk away, she turned and said, "Have a happy Thanksgiving Aaron."

"Thank you. You as well." Cait turned and walked into the building as Aaron climbed in and shut the door.

As he strode into the BAU, Aaron noticed Dave standing by his window looking out over the bullpen. He knew "Mother Hen" Rossi would be waiting for him. He barely got his coat hung up when Dave came in. "So how'd it go?"

"Great," Hotch answered. "It was quite interesting. I see now why you enjoy it so much."

"And Cait?" Hotch immediately figured where Dave was going with that question.

"She's a very impressive woman," Hotch stated matter of factly. With that, his phone rang. "Dave, its Strauss."

As Dave turned to leave Hotch's office, he rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "Are you really that damn blind?" and shut the door.

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